Context: A carbon dating analysis of rice with soil, found in a burial urn at Sivakalai  in southern Tamil Nadu, by the Miami-based Beta Analytic Testing Laboratory, has yielded the date of 1155 BCE.
Key Points

• The discovery of urn indicates the Thamirabarani civilisation dates back to 3,200 years.
• Tamil Nadu assembly announced the establishment of Porunai Museum in Tirunelveli at a cost of Rs 15 crore.
• The finding has established that the Porunai river [Thamirabarani] civilisation dates back to 3,200 years.
• The carbon dating of the objects unearthed there had proved that Tamil society achieved literacy even in 6th century BCE.
• They discovered a good number of pot shreds with Brahmi inscriptions, have corroborated the view that contacts between South India and North India might be as early as 600-700 BCE or even earlier.
• A silver punch marked coin was recently excavated from Keezhadi. 
• It bore the symbols of the sun, the moon, the taurine and other geometrical patterns. 
• Studies on this found the coin to date back to the 4th century BC, which is before the time of the ancient Maurya empire
• The world Keezhadi has united Tamils across the world.

Thamirabarani civilisation
History

• The river got its name from the Tamil word “tamiran” which means copper. Since the traces of the copper metal was found in this river, this river is known as Thamirabarani.
• It was called the Tamraparni River in the pre-classical period, a name it lent to the island of Sri Lanka.
• Apart from the metal traces, a lot of medicinal properties are found in this river, as this flows from the Podhigai hills where many of the medicinal plants and shrubs grow.
• The old Tamil name of the river is Porunai.
• Thamirabarani in the southern district of Tirunelveli is no exception.

Thamirabarani River

• The Thamirabarani is a perennial river that originates from the Agastyarkoodam peak of Pothigai hills of the Western Ghats.
• It flows through districts of the Tamil Nadu and into the Gulf of Mannar.
• The river forms the Paanatheertham waterfalls as it enters the Kariyar reservoir.
• The river descends down the mountains near Papanasam, where it forms the Kalyanatheertham falls and Agasthiar falls.
• Tributary rivers: Karaiyar, Maniamuthar river, Peyar, Servalar river, Gadananthi river, Ullar, Pachaiyar river, Pambar and the Ramanathi river.

Similar Research

• Similar studies would be conducted at Vengi in Andhra Pradesh, Thalaikadu in Karnataka and Palur in Odisha.
• The Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department would conduct research at Quseir al-Qadim and Pernica Anekke in Egypt, which were once part of the Roman empire, as well as in Khor Rori in Oman, to establish the Tamils’ trade relations with these countries.
• Pot shreds with Tamil scripts have been found in these countries. 
• The studies would also be conducted in southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, where king Rajendra Chola had established supremacy.